Phillies Off-Season 2024-2025 (Hot Stove)

[Taudawg]

Phillies To Non-Tender Austin Hays

[bkeich]

Phillies To Non-Tender Austin Hays

Pretty fair to say that trade was a disaster.

[flyers19rw]

Not necessarily a disaster. Pache was a nothing burger here. Dominguez was erratic here and continued that way in Baltimore. The Phillies didn’t want to commit the money to him that he was going to get in arbitration.

[Austinfan]

And you have to look at those trades as a whole.

When the dust cleared, SD was replaced by Estavez, the two pitching prospects by slightly better pitching prospects, no one noticed Pache was gone.

Bergolla was the only asset of merit lost in those deals.
I liked him, but he'd rank behind Miller, Caba and probably Rincon and Saltiban as an IF prospect.

[allentown]

Boy I would not be for that type of trade. Who drives in runs on this team?.

An excellent point. I don't want to see the Phillies moving on from Bohm. I read columnists saying the Phillies believe perhaps another team will have to be the one to unlock Bohm's full potential. But, his performance this past season was fine: almost 100 RBIs and 3 WAR, and he's still not expensive.

To me, the big point is this: the Phillies have done an absolutely crap job of developing home-grown players who can boost the team. Among the teams they are contending with, they are, perhaps, uniquely awful. We have become a team that tries to succeed by signing or trading for older, expensive players on too long contracts. That is not sustainable.

Now, the Phillies, the same team which allowed Castellanos to play every game, is dissatisfied with the home-grown Bohm after a season in which his performance improved a ton. Meanwhile, Stott and Rojas regressed. We have to go back to Utley to find a home-grown player who has done as well as Bohm. The Phillies are on the same downward path as they were after 2008 and following the same approach in trusting in old, expensive players.

Miller may be our next plus 3B. He might be better than Bohm. Or he might crash and burn as Kingery did. The Phillies seem to have far more than their fair share of that.

An MLB team instills a team culture through home-grown players they have nurtured for years and inculcated their team's approach. We have been this route of only trusting the old guys before. Just as in the 2009-2011 seasons after the WC, the Phillies have left the playoffs earlier each year and have doubled down on established vets.

[zambonir]

Boy I would not be for that type of trade. Who drives in runs on this team?. Folks forget that Bohm drove in 97 last year and the year before that. The name of the game is score runs and replacing him with India is a pretty significant drop off.

I don't think India replaces Bohm per se. They would still need some other source of power in LF (I don't believe they have any interest in leaving Marsh there or playing Rojas full-time in CF).

But, cynically/sabermetrically, the answer to who might replace his RBIs is still, "just about anybody who gets to hit behind Bryce Harper" (as well as Turner). Maybe even Schwarber (who probably scored some of those runs himself). Certainly Castellanos would have had even more than 97 RBIS if he'd hit where Bohm did, not that he deserved to for a chunk of the year.

I do think Bohm's approach does make him more successful than some at RISP, but most would still not consider that a repeatable/sustainable skill, and the same goes for BABIP (which was .318 in the first half and .280 in the second. 70 of his RBIS were in the first half, 27 in the second. That was not just the injury).

I don't know which answer is correct, but I definitely see both sides. This might be a guy who is still 20% better than the rest of the league at the plate with neutral defense for two more years, or he might be only 5 or 10% better with negative defense and then the only thing that separates him from our RF is that he is cheaper (which is also why he has more trade value).

[andyb]

We'll see if Baltimore picks up the $8 million option for Seranthony. I doubt the Phillies would have though we might have explored a lower price to keep him.

I never loved the Hays acquisition but it was hard to say it was a disaster as it was two players both who might be too expensive to keep the next season.

Buried on twitter we did re-sign Jose Ruiz for $1.225 million which was slightly above his MLBTR prediction.

[zambonir]

The Phillies bear some blame if they seriously believed Hays could play everyday and factored that in, but he was perfectly fine as a platoon player. Just couldn't stay healthy and then stacked an illness on top of that. The Lane Thomas who showed up in October would have been better, but that was not at all the case in the regular season.

It does still feel weird that Soto brought back two of what are now considered top prospects while the Phillies had to throw in Pache with Seranthony, though of course he was going to be DFAed (and then was by the O's). Equally surprising that in the end Seranthony and Soto couldn't have done any worse in the playoffs than the guys we had and the guys we got.

The O's picked up SD's option quite some time ago. Makes sense, that's fair market value for a late-inning reliever and cheap for a closer, which he kind of was. Of course they could still trade him.

Orioles Exercise Club Option On Seranthony Domínguez, Decline Danny Coulombe

[flyers19rw]

All of your points regarding Bohm are valid. The problem in assessing the player is that there seems to be some unknowns with him.
A critical player doesn’t get benched during the POs without cause. What it was all about we don’t know. If it’s a fixable thing, it should be done and then everyone moves on.
With the Phillies allowing a trade possibility to be out there indicates that the issue is severe and unworkable as far as they are concerned. To reach that point with people like Thomson and Dombrowski is significant. Their reputations are that they are tolerant people.

[andyb]

The O's picked up SD's option quite some time ago. Makes sense, that's fair market value for a late-inning reliever and cheap for a closer, which he kind of was. Of course they could still trade him.

Missed that. Still think its an overpay for him. Baltimore really is thin though and has lots of money to spend with their new owner. I think they make a real run at bringing back Corbin Burnes at market value for instance. Many of their young stars are not going to get expensive for a couple of years.

[Taudawg]

From mlbtraderumors-

The Phillies and right-hander José Ruiz settled at $1.225MM, per Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). That’s slightly above his $1.2MM projection. The righty can also unlock a $20K bonus for pitching in 30 games and $25K for pitching in 40. He made 52 appearances for the Phils in 2024 with a 3.71 ERA.

[saycheese]

For sure whomever is behind Harper and Turner will drive in runs. Of course you would need more than India but the trade was Bohm to KC, Singer to Cincy and India to the Phillies. I don't think India is enough, not even close in my opinion. Now if it was India plus depending on what that plus is. Does it fill other holes like relief pitching on the team then maybe this would make a little more sense.

[Taudawg]

but the trade was Bohm to KC, Singer to Cincy and India to the Phillies

Oh I definitely would not do that. I was thinking Bohm for Singer, with Singer staying in Philly. Then make a trade for India, with what I don't know yet. The Phillies seem intent on trading Bohm. Too much smoke for there not to be some fire. Yet, trading Bohm creates a new hole to fill, and India fills that hole or at least mostly.

[zambonir]

It really shouldn't have been that big a deal that he was benched for one game (and not even that: 2 ABs) in a four-game playoff series. He was slumping badly, Sosa had gotten the odd start for defense in the other post-seasons, and it was also a bit of a shake-up/desperation move.

I don't think it's severe and unworkable, just that they aren't putting their chips on him and see a path where they can both get a good return for him and add a different kind of bat to the offense overall.

I think in the Singer scenario you either trade him for an OF or keep him and trade Suarez for an OF. That is the alternative to handing out another expensive/longer contract to a hitter who might not even be a great fit (besides Soto obviously) or going yet another year with Marsh and a platoon partner.

I could see the Reds throwing in a prospect or a Gregory Soto for the Phillies in a straight-up deal but Bohm for Singer is probably even (WAR says it is).

[xogfog]

The problem with trading Bohm, even if they sign Soto, is the lack of a run producing right handed bat. India. while hitting right handed is not the run producer Bohm is, and even if they sign Soto and move Castellanos to LF, Castellanos is too streaky to be the protection for Harper and Realmuto isn't the answer either anymore. I mean you could go Schwarber, India, Turner, Harper. So Bellinger isn't the answer, another lefty we don't need. If Thomson would convince Schwarber to hit cleanup, then I'd go India, Harper, Turner, Schwarber, Castellanos, Stott, Realmuto, Marsh/Wilson, Rojas.

If they sign Soto and trade Bohm and get India too, the I'd go, India, Turner, Soto, Harper, Castellanos, Schwarber, Realmuto, Stott, Marsh/Rojas.

[andyb]

Right-handed platoon bats are usually pretty inexpensive if they are seen as just that. Austin Hays for instance would be fine in that role for $3 or $4 million. They just did not want to pay him 2-way starter money (and they did not want to play him against right-handed pitching of course because he is not good enough).

[zambonir]

Haha and now we're off! Though, hardly surprising.

Phillies Rumors: Club reportedly making Nick Castellanos available on trade...

If they sign Soto I don't think the lack of another RHB matters, but good point about Bellinger.

I think as great as Bohm is at knocking guys in, they want (and needed) more power than Bohm had. I just don't know if there's an easy upgrade in that department. He had more SLG than India of course but somehow they hit the same number of HRs.

Nick wasn't that streaky last year, once he put April behind him. Doesn't mean he can do it again or even be a 110+ guy (he wound up at 107).

[Austinfan]

They're not getting Soto, the NY teams can outbid the world.

DD knows that, but putting in a bid to drive up the price endears him to Boras, and getting the Soto deal done speeds up signing other FAs.

Bregman isn't getting 11yrs/$300M at 31, but 5yr/$130M might be doable.

Castellanos with 2yr/$40M is not unmoveable, less risk with a short contract window. Might have to eat some money but not a lot, at $10-15M a year he's reasonable. Especially as a DH.

Trading Painter would be stupid and I doubt they even consider it.
He has ace potential, they're hard to find.

[zambonir]

Did someone suggest trading Painter?

[Austinfan]

Singer was traded for India and an OF.